Iraq settles for 'tough-talking' PM

Iraq's President has endorsed a tough-talking Shia as the country's new prime minister, ending months of deadlock since the country's elections at the end of last year.

Jawad al-Maliki, 56, a trenchant critic of "criminal" American military action and who opposed the United States-led invasion, was called upon by Jalal Talabani, who was re-elected as the country's president yesterday, to form a government.

Mr Maliki emerged as a compromise candidate after the previous leader of the Shia alliance agreed to stand aside. As a supporter of the death penalty for insurgents, Mr Maliki said he would work to form a "national unity government that will face the challenges of terrorism and corruption". Mr Maliki fled Iraq in 1980, to return after the 2003 invasion and become a leading Shia political figure.

Unlike most of his fellow Dawa Party members, however, Mr Maliki was against the invasion, outlining a rationale to a Lebanese newspaper in late 2002 that now appears remarkably prescient. "The danger to Iraq lies in the possibility of the US administration making mistakes in its supervision of this crisis," he told al-Nahar.

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"Those who will rule Iraq after Saddam Hussein cannot be envied. Don't fight for ruling an Iraq full of widows and orphans, and burdened with heavy debt."

Mr Maliki now finds himself in just that unenviable position. His task is complicated by suspicions among Sunni politicians that he is a sectarian, and by grave reservations within the Pentagon over his level of support for US military actions.

Responding to Sunni complaints about under-representation following the December elections, he said: "Democracy means accepting the opinion of the majority. The Sunnis need to take this into consideration."

Yesterday he was more conciliatory, however. Speaking in the knowledge that he had support from all three main religious groups, he pledged: "We are going to form a family that will not be based on sectarian or ethnic backgrounds."

Last month, Mr Maliki caused consternation by describing American actions, in a raid allegedly on a Shia mosque that left 22 people dead, as part of a "policy of aggression", and demanding "a full investigation of this crime."

American officials said that the building was not a mosque and that US special forces had been there only as advisers to Iraqi troops.

Previously the Dawa Party's official spokesman, Mr Maliki may also be hampered by his closeness to Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who stepped down as Iraqi premier last week.

Dr Jaafari was viewed by coalition officials as heavily influenced by Teheran and too close to Moqtadr al-Sadr, the anti-American rebel cleric, whose Mehdi Army has killed scores of coalition troops.